From the summit of South Totem Peak, Spreading Peak looked pretty darn sweet. I remembered looking up at Spreading Peak from our long traverse towards Marmota Peak in 2015 and thinking the same thing. A beautiful line of snow highlights the ridge to the summit cap and it looked pretty easy to boot. The issue - as with any peaks in this part of the Siffleur Wilderness - is access. There is no quick or easy way to access the gorgeous summits in this area. Or is there? As with Bison Peak to the north, South Totem and Spreading are surprisingly easy to access from Hwy 93 and as Phil Richards and I were quickly discovering, not even a long day is required to ascend them. Only around 4 hours after leaving the highway, we found ourselves descending a well-placed and remarkably easy scree gully down the south face of South Totem towards the Spreading Peak col. The gully led to a delightfully soft and fast scree slope which resulted in wide smiles and huge leaps and bounds all the way down to the col.

[Looking down the remarkably easy scree gully leading down from the east end of South Totem Peak to the Spreading Peak col.]

[Tarns on the flats between Marmota and Spreading / South Totem.]

[Phil on the easy descent of South Totem's south face - Spreading Peak at right and Marmota at center distance.]

[Exiting the gully and ready for a delightful scree run the rest of the way down to the col.]

[A gorgeous and very easy looking Spreading Peak awaits.]

We were encouraged and energized by the easy, fun escape from South Totem and this translated to an energy boost up the easy NW ridge of Spreading Peak. The most remarkable thing about the ascent was the intimidating view back towards the south face of South Totem which looked much harder than we'd experienced only a few minutes earlier. It was easy to see how the descent could be complicated without traversing the true summit to its far eastern end like we had. Sometimes the mountains bear rewards for persistence, I suppose.

[Impressive views of South Totem's south face from near the col with Totem Tower at right. ++]

[Looking back again - this time Corona Ridge sneaks into the shot at far right. ++]

[Another impressive view of South Totem. It's hard to believe our escape gully at far right was so easy!]

[Phil takes the final few steps to the summit ridge.]

The views from Spreading Peak were obviously very similar to the ones from South Totem, although the changing weather and different perspective was interesting enough to validate the add-on summit. After spending another 15-20 minutes at the top of our second peak of the day, we turned our attention on the descent.

[The skies clear for our summit views from Spreading Peak. South Totem and many of Murchison's towers at far left, Corona Ridge at left of center and Marmota right of center. ++]

[Another view into the sublime cirque to the east of Mount Noyes. Mount Hector in the far distance right of center.]

[From just off the summit to the south looking east (L) and south (R). ++]

For descent we had options to consider. Part of us wanted to explore the gorgeous hanging valley between some of Spreading Peak's outliers and the two summits we'd just scrambled, but part of us was a bit apprehensive about the bushwhack this might lead to. In the end we decided that since there was no hugely compelling reason to descend into the hanging valley (i.e. no tarns or waterfalls), we would instead descend an obvious orange-colored scree slope to a lower bench on South Totem before following that bench back to our ascent line and then back to Totem Creek and our exit trail. This idea worked beautifully. The side-hill traversing got old, as always, but was fairly short-lived.

[Interesting rock buttresses emerge from the lower broken cliff bands on South Totem.]

[Traversing under the lower cliffs.]

[Huge, and fairly solid, blocks are ready to come crashing down!]

[Back on our ascent line, heading down to treeline.]

The exit from treeline was quick and easy. I really enjoyed this trip. We had great conditions and got lucky with several route choices. We managed to round trip over 1700 vertical meters and 14km in less than 8 hours too! This should be considered fairly quick - I would think 10 hours would be more of an average for most people to enjoy this great outing.

About Me

My name is Vern Dewit. I moved to Calgary, Alberta (Canada) in 1999 and since then I've fallen in love with the spectacular scenery and grand vistas that open up as you scramble up above treeline on a beautiful fall morning, or make your first cast on some back country stream as the sun throws its golden warmth on surrounding peaks.

Goal

I hope that my trip reports and pictures will inspire you to push your own physical limits whatever those may be. You may be inspired to try scrambling - a sport where you climb mountains via non-technical ascent routes - or you may simply realize what's in your own backyard and go for a short hike somewhere.

Disclaimer / Contact

Read the trip reports carefully and don't simply follow them blindly. Make sure you're within your abilities and if you have any questions don't hesitate to send me an email.